I recently read a biography of Michael Schumacher and while it did little to change my opinion of him as a sportsman, one thing became very clear. Michael values his family above everything and does everything possible to try and give his kids a normal upbringing. Sometimes unfortunately things go a bit too far in the quest for normalcy.

Schumacher’s 9 year old son competed in his first kart race last weekend. Unfortunately, the boy’s father chose not to attend in order to keep the spotlight away from the young lad. He was entered as Mick Betsch, using Mom’s maiden name and was accompanied by Grandpa Rolf. I too have a 9 year old boy who will be driving in his first race soon. While he would be happy to have Grandpa there to watch, he would be devastated if dear old Dad didn’t come to see his first race.

So much for normal.

Image from AS.com, fully story at F1 Live

That guy giving you the thumbs up is none other than Jalopnik scribe Wes Siler, who took a bit of a tumble last week on a two wheeler. It must have been a pretty substantial whoops, as Wes’ protective gear was all pretty much demo’d. Siler wouldn’t know though, as he can’t remember anything of the event.

Get well soon guy!

Not to be outdone, Mikey Mike Schumacher decided to one up Siler with his own on track escapade. They’re called brakes Mr Mike, you might want to try them some time.

How’s the ego feeling Mike?

Speaking to a Spanish radio show, Fernando Alonso backs up our feelings that while Michael Schumacher may be the best driver, he is indeed a poor sport.
“Zidane retired with more glory than Schumacher,” said Alonso, referring to the French footballer whose final professional match was marred by a red card for butting an opponent in this year’s World Cup final. “Michael is the most unsporting driver with the largest number of sanctions [against him] in the history of formula one. That doesn’t mean he hasn’t been the best driver, and fighting against him has been an honour and a pleasure.”

Source Guardian UK

Let’s face it. Michael Schumacher is one of the most talented drivers that has ever lived. His list of records far exceeds anything anyone else has done, or likely will do. Is he one of the greatest? Not here in the eyes of The Garage. He may be one of the biggest jerks that the motor racing world has ever produced. Now that he has officially retired following the race at Monza, the sporting world is abuzz with the news.
Continue reading →

Never one to hold his tounge, Jacques Villeneuve has revealed his opinion on Michael Schumacher. In an interview for the upcoming issue of F1 Racing, Villeneuve has essentially said that Schumi is a deceptive, no personality dirtbag that the world will forget about when he’s gone. JV actually goes so far as to compare Mikey to the late, great Ayrton.

On the Ayrton topic, you have to give JV credit. Senna was up front about it when he planned to stuff someone. Mikey plays dumb, thinking the whole world doesn’t get it. What get’s me is where does JV get off thinking the world is going to remember him? Sure, he has more personality that Schumacher, but in some cases that may not be a good thing. Jacques has pissed off a lot of people, not only in the sport, but more importantly the fans. In reality, how many people outside Quebec will remember his name for anything other than his father’s son? The world has definately forgotten about the Uncle Jaques. Maybe they can race snowmobiles together!
read the full story at Pitpass

The stunning mugshot above is from autoplus

It’s been close to 40 years since Cosworth started building engines for Grand Prix cars, specifically for Matra and Lotus. Now, British Formula 1 team Williams has confirmed that their cars will no longer be using Cosworth power. Williams have entered a 3 year contract with Toyota to run the same engine as powers the Toyota F1 car. This leaves only the Torro Rosso entry using Cosworth engines.

Cosworth Engines have scored World Championships with Graham Hill and Michael Schumacher, but have not scored a race win since Fisichella wond the Brazilian GP in 2003.

Source Full Throttle

In an unprecedented marketing move, Fiat has chosen to place it’s CaseIH brand logos on it’s Ferrari F1 cars for the Canadian and US Grand Prix. While the press release proclaims how this partnership shows the importance of the Case brand to parent company Fiat, The Garage thinks it is a clever marketing ploy. America is a huge farming nation. Farmers purchase tractors. Farmers also watch NASCAR. Farmers don’t watch Formula One. Maybe this is actually an attempt to market F1 through the farm network, along with a push on tractors.

Could Ferrari be planning to sell it’s own line of farm implements to compete with those long time competitors from across the home town of Modena? I can see it now, Michael Schumacher does an in store in Witchita and nobody shows up. Michael who?

For those of you who haven’t heard, Michael Schumacher is at it again. Treating Formula One like his own little sandbox where he can do whatever the heck he wants, never receiving any retribution for his actions. Perhaps Flavio Briatore said it best when he said “because it’s this place & it’s Ferarri, nothing will be done”. Historically, Mr. Schumacher has been able to get away with his blatant bad behaviour. His poor sportsmanship has left a very bitter taste in the mouths of F1 fans all over the world. Why has he been able to do it? Because he drives for Ferarri and he is arguably the best driver of all time and the Bernie and Max show don’t have the stones to deal with him. They would rather play dumb & make comments like the one quoted in the title.

This time however, it seems that he may have gone too far. Continue reading →